Question, Please

Ever since the Department of Justice slapped Du Pont with an antitrust suit last June, the corporation has been quietly taking its case to the country. Its executives have made speech after speech at luncheons and dinners. Last week, as he rose to address 300 newsmen at Washington's National Press Club, Du Pont President Crawford H. Greenewalt got a chance to let the Justice Department have it at close range. Just seven places down the speaker's table sat Assistant Attorney General Herbert Bergson, boss of the Justice Department's antitrust division.

As Bergson smiled self-consciously, Greenewalt ripped into the department: "We have had on our books for many years the Sherman antitrust law. The Du Pont Company is ... heartily in favor of that law . . . Unfortunately . . . the ideology of enforcement is left to the shifting winds of political thought . . . Business frequently finds itself attacked for acts done many years ago in all good faith and with the best legal advice available "

When Greenewalt finished, a question came from the floor: "If Du Pont is in favor of the Sherman act, then why has Du Pont been indicted for violating it?" Greenewalt turned to Bergson, saying:'Im not sure if that is a question for me or for Mr. Bergson." In answer, Trustbuster Bergson gave him only a frozen smile.

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